A review by we_are_all_mad_here26
The Echo Chamber, by John Boyne
2.0
Prior to reading this book I had shelved it as satire because that's what it claims to be. It is not. It is the most farcical farce I have ever been exposed to outside of a 1980s sitcom.
Instead of a plot we have one scene following another in which the characters, both main and secondary, become more and more ridiculous. I only kept reading because once I got so far, I had to stay to see how it would all fall apart. I mean, I had to believe it was all going to fall apart in the end. And in the meantime Boyne made abundantly clear his dislike for cancel culture, performative wokeism (wokeness? I don't know), internet trolls, and so on and so on and so on.
And then in the end I think we are all meant to believe that the phones are responsible for all of it.
Bottom line is if you've never read John Boyne before DO NOT START HERE.
Instead of a plot we have one scene following another in which the characters, both main and secondary, become more and more ridiculous. I only kept reading because once I got so far, I had to stay to see how it would all fall apart. I mean, I had to believe it was all going to fall apart in the end. And in the meantime Boyne made abundantly clear his dislike for cancel culture, performative wokeism (wokeness? I don't know), internet trolls, and so on and so on and so on.
And then in the end I think we are all meant to believe that the phones are responsible for all of it.
Bottom line is if you've never read John Boyne before DO NOT START HERE.